In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has announced plans to combine three sports seasons into two by dividing the seasons into fall and spring. Cross country, volleyball, and water polo will be a part of the fall season, while basketball, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field will take place in the spring season.
This new plan, however, poses an issue for students who play multiple sports. Multi-sport student-athletes are left in a difficult position if their sports occur in the same season. Sabine ’23, who participates in both basketball and lacrosse, falls into this category of student-athletes.
“Personally I don’t think it makes sense to play two sports in one season, especially for varsity sports since there’s a really big time commitment,” Sabine said.
Athletic Director Sheila Pauley is hoping that despite the overlap, students will still continue to participate on their respective teams.
“We’re hoping that they will continue to want to play both [sports], and we’re just gonna try to work the schedules out with the coaches. It will get a little tricky when it comes to competition… so they will only be able to compete in one sport each day,” Pauley said.
Another question CIF’s new plan raises is how this will affect student-athletes hoping to get recruited to college. With the seasons starting later, this gives less time for student-athletes to be seen by coaches.
“I think there are some things we can offer to do in place of that. We can offer film for those that want it, and we can also invite coaches to watch via Zoom,” Pauley said.
In regards to training for the start of the season, Marlborough’s volleyball team has started to meet in small, socially distanced groups and plans to continue into the school year with small group practices hosted at Marlborough. Elizabeth ‘21 likes that these practices offer an alternative to virtual practice, but still acknowledges its difference to past pre-seasons.
“I definitely like the in-person training way better, but it is still not the same as pre-seasons we have had in the past. I really miss being able to train with my whole team and use the gym,” Elizabeth said. On top of the different arrangements for training, she also feels as if the season might not commence.
“It’s also kinda sad because it feels like we are training for a season that isn’t gonna happen,” Elizabeth said.
Despite the new adjustments, Pauley is optimistic about where sports are headed.
“I think CIF has put us in a really good situation… I think it gives the student-athletes the best possible scenario to be able to compete in all their sports,” Pauley said.
